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Mycroft, the chain Is complete. But
here he conies, if I am not mistaken,
to speSk for himself."
A mpment later the tall and portly
form of Mycroft Holmes was ushered
into the room.
At his heete came our aid friend
Lestrade of Scotland Yard thin and
austere.
"A most annoying business, Sher
lock," said he. "Have you read up
the case?"
"We have just done so. What were
the technical papers?"
"Ah, there's the point! Fortunately
it has not come out. The press would
be furious,if it did. The papers which
this wretched youth had in his pocket
were the plans of the Bruce-Parting-ton
subamatine.
"Its importance can hardly be ex
aggerated. It has been the most jeal
ously guarded of all government se
crets. The plans, which are exceed
ingly intricate, comprising some thir
ty separate patents, each essential to
the working of the whole, are kept in
an elaborate safe in a confidential of
fice adjoining the arsenal, with burglar-proof
doors and windows."
"But you have recovered them?"
"No, Sherlock, no! That's the
pinch. We have not. Ten papers were
taken from Woolwich. There were
seven in the pockets of Cadogan
West. The three most essential are
gone, stolen, vanished. You must
drop everything, Sherlock."
"The problem certainly presents
some points of Interest, and I shall be
very pleased to look into" it. Some
more facts, please."
"I have jotted down the more es
sential ones upon this sheet of paper,
together with a few addresses, which
you will find of service. The actual
official guardian of the papers is the
famous government expert, Sir James
Walter, whose decorations and sub
titles fill two lines of a book of refer
ence. He has grown gray in the Serv
ice, he is a gentleman, a favored
guest in the most exalted houses, and,
above all, a man whose patriotism is 1
above proof. He is one of .two who.
have a key of the safe.'1
"Who was the other man with a
key?"
"The senior clerk and draftsman,
Mr. Sidney Johnson. According to
his own account, corroborated only
by the word of his wife, he was at
home the whole of Monday evening
after office hours, and his key has
never left the watch-chain upon,
which it hangs."
"Who locked the plans up thaf
night?"
"Mr. Sidney Johnson, the senior
clerk,"
An hour later Holmes, Lestrade
and I stood on the Underground-Rail-
road at the point where it emerges'
from the tunnel immediately before
Aldgate Station. A courteous red
faced old gentleman represented the
railway company.
"This is where the young man's
body lay," said he, indicating a spot
about three feet from the metals. "It
could not have fallen from above, for
these, as you see, are all blank walls.
Therefore it could only have come
from a train, and that train, so far
as we can trace it, must have passed
about midnight on Monday."
"Watson, we have done all we can
here. We need not trouble you any
further, Mr. Lestrade. I think our in
vestigation must now carry us to
Woolwich."
At London Bridge Holmes wrote a
telegram to his brother, which he
handed to me before dispatching. It
ran thus: '
"See some light in the darkness,
but it may possibly flicker out. Mean
while please send by messenger to
await return at Baker street a conn
plete list of all foreign spies or inter
national agents known to be in Eng
land, with full address. Sherlock."
"That should be helpful, Watson.'V
he remarked, as we took dur seats
In the Woolwich train. The end is
dark to me, but I have hold of one!
idea which maylead us far. The man
met his death elsewhere, and his boda
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